[sadnabrina]

My dashcam recorded this incident last week in WB, NH 314 - Purulia to Bankura. A car on the opposite direction veered off track onto the ditch on my left, then it jumped over a heap of sand/loose soil and crashed onto a large tree .

I have zoomed in on the video (and thus lost some quality) and slowed it down a bit for you to see the incident better.

We were fortunate enough to be a few seconds late, else it would have hit us head on. It was my son (fellow BHPian Artoodeebag) driving my car, and was pretty shaken by the incident.

Despite the head on impact with the tree at an estimated speed of above 50kmph, the car (a Suzuki XL6) held up pretty well. The passenger cabin was intact and the steering column and pedals were all in place. The front doors, though slightly jammed could be opened without much trouble. The engine compartment and the front crumple zone was pretty badly damaged though. The front airbags got activated and saved the passengers well.

We stopped and joined in the rescue operation. With the help of some locals and a few military personnel from a passing truck convoy, the injured family was extricated. All 3 of them (mid aged driver, his wife and his adult daughter) were in shock but were in their full senses. The wife had head injury and had some blood loss from a cut in the forehead and nose, while the husband had waist/ leg injury but no major bleeding. The daughter did not have any major visible injury and could walk out of the car on her own.

Both the front passengers (man and daughter) were wearing seat belts which saved them from any catastrophic injury. The rear passenger (wife) was not wearing belts and was thrown around inside the car. This resulted in head and nose injury (and possibly some neck injury as well). This is a prime example highlighting the importance of rear seat belts.

A local traffic guard called up the highway emergency numbers. They figured out that it would take more than an hour for the ambulance to arrive.

Assessing the injury, specially the head injury, I thought it would be best to have the injured hospitalized within the golden hour. So we decided to pick them up and drive them on to the nearest hospital some 30 kms away at Bankura town.

On our way to the hospital, I enquired if the man remembers what had happened. He said - "My head was reeling and then I don't remember". Seeing his otherwise stable condition after the accident and at the hospital later, I think the "head reeling" part of his statement may not have been the most truthful one.
He started driving from Nadia district and had already crossed Bankura town, so it must have been at least 6 hours of driving already and they must have started early in the morning. This particular stretch of road is not a 4 lane highway, but is very well planned and well made 2 lane section. The surface is butter smooth and the entire 50 odd kms is pretty well marked. So I infer that is must have been fatigue and sleep that was responsible for the "I don't remember" part of the statement.

We reached the hospital after around 30 minutes. It was a government hospital, but the staff were quite helpful. We had to spend a few minutes for the stretchers to be arranged, but once we could get hold of one, the ER doctors could immediately start attending the injured.
We waited some more time to check the condition of the patients. They seemed to have stabilized after the doctors started their treatment. Meanwhile on our way to the hospital, the man had contacted his son on phone, who immediately mobilized a few friends and started for the hospital. They were expected to arrive within a few hours.

We had one last job to do - arrange a safe place to offload the luggage and other belongings of the family. On request the police outpost beside the ER agreed keep the luggage in their room for the time being. So we offloaded the bags there and went our way.

We wish a speedy recovery to the family.

The dashcam footage indicated the following timeline -
12:51:02 - 51:07 - Car starts veering off track and crashes on to the tree
12:51:23 - We stop and I ran towards the crash site
12:56:50 - My son starts turning the car around to pick up the injured
13:02:12 - We start driving towards the hospital
13:35:50 - We reach the hospital ER
13:45:00 - We started back on our destination for the day - Bishnupur

Lessons learnt -
1) Seat belts - must be worn even for rear seat passengers.
2) Sleep and fatigue can be a killer. Never drive when you are tired or didn't have enough sleep. Even if you may not feel it, it is always recommended to ensure you have had at least your usual hours of sleep on the previous 24 hour period before starting for a long drive.
3) Take a break after every 3-4 hours of driving.
4) A 10-15 minutes of power nap actually helps rejuvenate your body.
5) Chew a chewing gum or take some Wasabi nuts while driving. This helps is staying awake and in full senses.
6) Keep some energy drink handy and drink some when you feel tired - Strong freshly ground coffee works wonders for me, but it keeps me awake even at night after 10 hours of driving. So if I have plans to drive the next day, I don't take coffee.
7) Keep talking with you co-passengers and make them aware of spotting signs of fatigue in your speech - slurry or incoherent speech indicates fatigue.

https://youtu.be/bqARh4Tq1Qg

[Siva Prakash]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

Lessons learnt -
1) Seat belts - must be worn even for rear seat passengers.
2) Sleep and fatigue can be a killer. Never drive when you are tired or didn't have enough sleep. Even if you may not feel it, it is always recommended to ensure you have had at least your usual hours of sleep on the previous 24 hour period before starting for a long drive.

Exactly my thoughts when i read the post and watched the video.
The rear seat passengers should wear their seatbelts, if not for their safety, they should at least do it for the front passengers safety. I think it is the responsibility of the driver to make sure whether or not all the passengers are belted.
I found this video to be interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3InF19dzlM

On a side note, I really liked how well you reacted to the situation.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, sadnabrina! Moving your post to a new thread. Kudos for stopping & helping .

Linking to my thread on drowsiness (Drowsiness & Sleepy Driving: The silent killer on Indian roads).

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

We stopped and joined in the rescue operation. With the help of some locals and a few military personnel from a passing truck convoy, the injured family was extricated.

Appreciate your quick thinking and playing the role of a good Samaritan to perfection . Take a bow Sadnabrina !

On our roads it's always the locals and passers-by who're the first respondents that makes a big difference to the fate of accident victims. You were quite lucky too and be that few seconds late which averted a possible head on collision. God's eyes were on you and family. Glad to know the victims have come out largely unscathed. Wishing them a speedy recovery.

[NaXal]

Kudos to your action for stopping and rendering your car for hospital transportation. Its really sad as often we see people avoiding this important life saving task. God bless you.

Coming to the accident, thank god the car didn't hit you head on. Often the vehicle on opposite lane ends up getting hit by this type of accident.

Your stars were in your favour that day. Accident happened just a 100 odd meters ahead of you.

Lesson to be learned,

1. Dont fight driver fatigue.

If you are feeling sleepy, drowsy or tired, pull over. Park the car in safe place, lay the seat back & take a nap. Just 30/40 mins nap would do wonders. No, water in eyes wont help. Take that nap, then put water in eyes and coffee or what ever !! But that nap is what may save your life.

2. Drive a safe vehicle

Just having that AirBag won't cut it. You need a strong body shell as well. Life is way more important than your car's resale value. You can drive slow and safe, avoid fatigue or all other mistakes but see, here that opposite lane traffic may end up making you the victim. All that savings you did by buying a car with couple of kmpl more & better resale value may end up taking that most important & priceless LIFE

3. Seat Belts

Its annoying, its uncomfortable to start with but it will save your life. Yes, even in the backseat. Start wearing them. Few thousand kms and few months of that uncomfortableness and then it will become your habit. A good life saving habit.

4. Need Safer cars for India

Public demand is what drives everything in our country. Specially politics, so talk more about safe cars and how strong bodyshell is as important as putting that mandatory AirBag rule. Those parking sensor mandatory regulation can be scrapped in favour of a strong bodyshell & mandatory crash test rule. Why can't our favourite high mileage better resale value car be safe as well?

Thanks.

[NiInJa]

God bless you @sadnabrina for helping the victims ! Relieved to read that nothing very serious happened to the occupants.

It clearly looks like a case of driving dozing off at the wheel. Also, looking at the video, its a good thing that the car's DRL or headlights were on, it might have helped in registering the car's movement from a distance. Thank god it didn't collide head-on with you or any other vehicle around.

[Mountainman21]

Great job Sadnabrina with helping out the needful. India needs more people like you.

For a long time I never insisted rear passengers to wear seat belts (Naive and Stupid me), however, now I make sure everyone buckles up in the car. It not only helps in accidents but also in cases where emergency breaking or sharp turns are to be tackled.

[ashwinprakas]

First of all, you guys are Heroes! Not many would display the presence of mind or humanity you have shown to someone in need of medical assistance.

Hats off Gentlemen!

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

On our way to the hospital, I enquired if the man remembers what had happened. He said - "My head was reeling and then I don't remember". Seeing his otherwise stable condition after the accident and at the hospital later, I think the "head reeling" part of his statement may not have been the most truthful one.

Brings to mind an incident than happened a few months ago.

A friend of mine was driving a Omni from Haripad to Trivandrum, and in between he called me to come by the Bajaj Spares outlet at Kollam(About 60 km's from his starting point) which is on his way, I reached the spot and he did as well, we were at the counter purchasing spares for a motorcycle he was rebuilding, we were both facing the counter i.e I wasn't looking at him, we were both searching for a particular Part Number on our respective phones and in my peripheral vision I see him drop the phone onto the counter top, I thought he was frustrated due to not finding the same and I turned to tell him that I'll find the Part Number in a second and that's when I notice that he had fallen unconscious on the floor.

Just like that, no warning signs!

I immediately picked him up and made him sit on a chair and the lady there gave us a glass of water with some salt mixed into it, we made him drink it and a couple of minutes later he was back on his feet like nothing had happened.

This incident really shook me up cause the only reason he escaped a mishap was due to stopping for spares, had he continued driving the remaining 70kms without halting for spares he would've lost consciousness while driving and this is the Kollam to Trivandrum stretch of NH66, basically a 2 lane road with very limited dividers, the same stretch where the Mustang had wrecked a while ago.

I believe the reason he lost consciousness like that was due to low blood pressure which he recovered from after drinking the saline solution.

Regards,
A.P.

[Gannu_1]

Anirban, appreciate you and the fellow travellers stopping and helping the victims.

Fatigue is a silent killer on the roads. Slowly sets in and one wouldn’t realise it. Best to have a sound sleep before the day of travel, eat light, travel during the daytime and take a power nap if the driver is feeling sleepy.

The victim is lucky in the sense he did not bang into any other vehicle. The consequences would have been severe!

[pavanmadhini]

Scary to think what might have happened if your car had been 200 metres ahead or if the cyclists in the video had been 15 seconds slower!

Hats off to you sir, for stopping immediately and helping the folks out.

[haisaikat]

Very commendable effort sadnabrina, kudos to you for answering to the need of the hour.

Until my last trip to Puri in December I never carried Red Bull for overcoming sleepiness. I used to consciously pull over to one side of the road and take a nap even if for 10 minutes. I do not care if that take me more time to reach the destination but this helps a lot.

Even in the last trip I took the leverage of Red Bulls but still made it a point once to park aside and sleep for a good 10-15 minutes, and I am not ashamed. At times I have done this for 3-4 times on a single trip.

Some other points

• I have found that responsible intake of food while on the road does help to reduce this
• If your co-passengers are co-operative they will make it a point to utilize the breaks for recharging themselves too and not while you are driving siting next to you
• During day, avoid using sunglasses if you are driving with windows up. The glare from the daylight works like a charm in keeping you awake
• Play a suspenseful drama (Sunday Suspense - Taranath Tantrik for Bengali folks, last time family members finally asked to shut it down) on the ICE if you can over web / streaming / downloaded as available, of course unless you feel distracted
• Follow / keep pace with a safe speeding car, your adrenaline rush will keep you awake.

[kamilharis]

Rear seat belts must be made mandatory to wear, people they just don't listen when we ask them to wear it, including my family, and I don't know when they will understand. I am trying my level best.

And Kudos to you my friend for your helping hands!

[Pynummoottil]

Thank you sadnabrina for the post. You are absolutely right about all the take home lessons you mentioned. Rear passengers in our country rarely wear seat belts and the results of this can be catastrophic.

I would however like to add an important point, especially since you mentioned that the lady in the rear seat may have suffered a neck injury. Anybody with a suspected neck injury should only be moved by a professional, trained in such matters. While golden hour is important, it is equally important that one wait for professional help. I am a Surgeon, which is why I would like to mention this.

[Ganapathy]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

My dashcam recorded this incident last week in WB, NH 314 - Purulia to Bankura. A car on the opposite direction veered off track onto the ditch on my left, then it jumped over a heap of sand/loose soil and crashed onto a large tree .

I have zoomed in on the video (and thus lost some quality) and slowed it down a bit for you to see the incident better.

or incoherent speech indicates fatigue.

[

Thanks to all of you for your kind and humane gesture in helping the driver and passengers of the XL6.

You have made a very pertinent point on the importance of passengers in the rear seat wearing seat belts. This cannot be overemphasised. Until recently even I was not convinced of this necessity.

On a divergent note, Please can you share the details of the dash cam this incident was captured on?

[aargee]

Couldn't help thinking...

What caused the XL6 owner to commence their trip at whatever time they choosed to? What could've happened if they started few seconds earlier or later? Or rather what caused those 2 cyclist to start their journey some 10-15 seconds earlier? What caused you to delay the same 10-15 seconds later?